By Jan Lemucchi, Program and Communications Officer, Kern Community Foundation

The Kern Community Foundation recently met with local arts and culture representatives to find out the needs within the community.

Kern Community Foundation is a nonprofit public charity created by and for the people of Kern County. We work to enhance the quality of life for all the people of Kern County by encouraging philanthropy, providing services to donors and assisting those who work to meet community needs.

KCF understands that arts and culture organizations encourage community involvement and participation, increase the potential for people to understand themselves, change how people see the world, and bolster neighborhood pride and identity. Art has a personal and positive effect on individuals. It surfaces emotions, sparks imagination and uncovers possibilities. The value of art goes beyond its beauty and power to move individuals. Research shows how art fuels local economic growth by contributing jobs, advancing tourism and nurturing creativity. Arts education helps children succeed in school because it improves their ability to learn in other subject areas and increases their self-esteem. Art also brings people together, fostering social connections, bridging cultural differences, promoting deeper understanding of others and encouraging civic engagement. Art strengthens a community.

To that end, the Kern Community Foundation is interested in providing grants to sustain, expand and enhance the arts and culture activities in all of Kern County.

KCF is very aware of how the arts organizations in Kern County have withstood major city, county and state funding cuts and competition for dollars and audience members over the past few years. Grant makers and the arts community alike can point to the value of arts and culture in a time of limited philanthropic dollars. In an uncertain economy, competition for philanthropic support is strong, not only among arts and culture organizations, but across all sectors.

KCF is striving to establish a Field of Interest Fund (FOI) in Arts and Culture for Kern County. This fund is labor intensive and will require volunteer leadership and a core group of arts-involved individuals and arts donors from our community who are committed to growing the arts community. Kern Community Foundation hopes to bring together an initial group of individuals, after it receives input from the LOI, to share information and to assess the overall community’s willingness to move forward with the granting and the establishment of an FOI Fund.

These grant programs are open for proposals in the near future. Downloadable requirements for writing a proposal to this program will be on the KCF website www.kernfoudation.org or contact Jan Lemucchi, Program and Communications Officer, at jan@kernfoundation.org if you have any questions.